Connectivity — Uruguay
What travelers need to know about connectivity in Uruguay. What is legal at home can be a serious crime here — each rule links to its official source.
Connectivity in Uruguay: allowed only under specific conditions.
Every mobile line in Uruguay, prepaid or contract, must be registered to a named person before it can be used on the network. To buy a SIM you give the operator your name, the type and number of an identity document (a national ID card, a passport or a tax registration number are the documents the rule names) and your actual address; registration can be done online, by phone or in person. If any of that information changes, you must tell the operator within 15 calendar days. The registered holder of a line is the person fined for malicious, false, joke or irregular calls to the 911 emergency service.
Malicious, false, joke or irregular calls to 911: a fine of 10 to 100 readjustable units (UR), imposed by the communications regulator URSEC on the registered holder of the line, graded by repetition (Decreto 271/021, arts. 1-2); the decree also provides for a warning before a line is blocked under Ley 19.355, art. 166. The registration decree itself sets no fine on the user: a line that is not registered cannot be used on the network (Decreto 274/014, art. 6).
§ IMPO - Centro de Información Oficial (Uruguay): Decreto N.º 274/014 (texto actualizado, reglamenta art. 75 de la Ley 19.149), arts. 1-2, 4-7; Decreto N.º 271/021 (reglamenta art. 103 de la Ley 19.889), arts. 1-3Verified Sep 22, 2026